The Field Ham Rodon!
by Caisius
Summary: When a young ham named "Rodon" loses all hew knows and loves to a deadly storm, he is taken in by a group of Field-Hams and is trained. But all of this is training for the biggest adventure of his life. The search for his brother. This is on hold for now!


Hello, everyone!

I started this story nearly five years ago and only got up to chapter 4 before stopping. I had always told myself that I would come back and finish this story, even if I had lost all of my original readers. I felt that I owed that to them, and to myself.

After FINALLY deciding that I would come back to finish this, I read the first chapter to get reacquanted with the story and was shocked to see the way I had written it. I have grown as a writer since that point, and I felt that what I had back then no longer showed what I was capable of. So I decided to re-write the first 4 chapters again.

This chapter is a re-write of the original, the plot is pretty much the same, though I did add a lot more to it. The original chapter's length was about 927 words long, not including any A/N I had done. This chapter's length is about 4104 words long, not including this long A/N.

Also, this is a re-upload. The original story has been deleted.

Anyway, enough of this. I hope all of my new readers enjoy this work! And if I still have any of my older readers, I hope this is an acceptable re-write. :) I'm still not the best writer, yet I try! Enjoy!

**"The Field Ham Rodon!"**

**Chapter 1: Disaster Strikes**

The night was dark and the weather was cold in the small Ham-Ham town of Sunflower Villa. It had been raining off and on for the past three days and had finally made up it's mind to start pouring heavily and constantly.

Sunflower Villa was usually a fairly active town, with hams going about their daily routines. But today was different. The massive rains had come at the town in waves in the previous days, but now it was attacking with a brute force. Many hams feared that the nearby Villa-Side River would swell up and flood the small town. Though, the authorities had done their best to keep the citizens calm, there was still those who were skeptical about the current situation.

Sundan, the town's mayor, had seen situations like this before, and had acted accordingly. In past events that had involved the threat of flooding, he had put into place measures that would help insure the least amount of casualties, such as a program to teach hams how to swim in case they were caught in a situation that required that knowledge and ability. It had not been very successful, however, as the bodies of hamsters significantly limited their ability to swim. It wasn't impossible, but it was extremely difficult to master.

Sundan was a somewhat tall hamster for the norm. He had white fur covering his body with brown fur covering his backside from his tail up to the top of his head and around to his forehead, where it split, curving around his eyes and ears and meeting his back again. The brown fur extended from his back, covering the sides of his body right under his arms as well. He usually had an aura of authority about him, but today was different.

Sundan paced back and forth as the raindrops pounded against the window of his office. He had recently began to become lost in thought as he attempted to think of ways to get his town out of its current prediciment. Many sollutions in the past would not work this time around. There simply was not enough resources to raise the river's banks enough to prevent an overflow. And there wasn't enough time to acquire the needed resources to do so. There wasn't many areas of higher ground in the town to retreat to. Sure there were some tall buildings for a hams size, but the predictions suggested that even then the floodwaters may rise even to those heights. Another strategy would be to call for a retreat. There was a few hills in the area that could serve as a fallback point for the town. But even then they wouldn't be able to survive there for an extended period of time while they waited for the waters to recede.

Sundan sighed and stopped his pacing. "We have to do something to stop this coming disaster before it results in a tragedy."

"What do you expect to do about it?" came a females voice from the corner of the room.

Sundan glanced over toward the voice with a look of desperation in his eyes. "I intend to do everything I can, Romania.."

Romania was a short ham with light brown fur and an area of white fur on her front. Her nose was a slightly darker shade of pink than Sundan's. She looked to be in her twenties in hamster years, yet her eyes suggested she had much wisdom. She donned a small pair of glasses with thin lenses and a golden frame. She had been a secretary for Sundan for over a year now, and had already proven to be quite a bit of help for Sundan as he always came to her for advice on certain situations.

Romania had been reading a book with a green cover. She smiled sadly and looked up to meet Sundan's gaze. "Face it Sundan, this town is old. I believe its time has come.."

Sundan turned toward Romania completely now, a look of shock crept onto his face as he replayed what he had just heard his secretary say. The look of desperation in his eyes was replaced with that of anger. "No!" he said as he took a step toward her. "This town shall not die on my watch. Not now, not ever!"

Romania sighed and closed the book she had been reading and placed it on the table next to her chair. She stood up and walked over to meet Sundan face-to-face.

"I'll find a way to stop this flood and save this town. You just watch me, Romania," Sundan whispered as his gaze fell to analyze the floor.

Romania chuckled softly, causing Sundan to look back up at her. "You go right ahead, then, Sundan. But as soon as the rain lightens up a bit, I'm leaving."

Sundan watched silenty as Romania passed by him and stopped in front of the window looking out over the wet town.

Romania looked outside to see the town she had become familiar with over the years she had lived there. The location of the Town Hall made it easy to get a good view of the town, as it was situated on top of a cliff with a drop of one human foot. The mayor's office was on the second floor, so there weren't many buildings that blocked the view from that height. She looked out past the town toward the dark forest of giant oak trees that surrounded the little opening that the Sunflower Villa lay in. She noted that they had always acted as a natural camoflage to help hide them when humans came near, though there had been times when their location was discovered. This usually led to the deaths of a few hams and a couple of damaged and/or destroyed buildings. _Humans never knew how to watch their step_.. She then looked toward the river which had grown a human foot higher than the normal height. It had already claimed a few homes that were scattered in the surrounding area of the town.

Romania sighed again. "I mean, who would want to stay here and fight this?" she questioned Sundan as she pointed out the window. "If you're planning on doing that, then you must be a mad ham!"

"You can laugh all you want, Romania. This town will live, and I will prove that to you!" Sundan yelled at her, louder than she normally would associate with Sundan. She looked into his eyes and saw rage.. and utter desperation. She felt bad for him.

Sundan stomped quickly to the door of his office and pulled it open. He looked back toward Romania for a moment and noticed a look of pity in her eyes. He shook his head and headed out of the door.

Romania ran to the door and caught it before it closed behind him. She noticed him walking with haste down the hall. "Where are you going?" she questioned.

Sundan kept walking as he looked back behind his shoulder to answer. Thunder roared outside for a moment and as it died down, he answered, "I'm going to stop the floods, that's where!"

* * *

Sundan walked down one of the dark and empty streets of the town, heading home for the night to formulate a plan that would hopefully save his beloved town.

He sneezed. "Dangit.. I had to forget my umbrella when I need it most," he said after he realized his mistake. He had always been a decent thinker under pressure. Always able to work out problems that would help the town and its residents. He chuckled to himself softly as he realized even with all of that, he couldn't think through pressure if it meant helping himself.

As he walked, he looked to his sides at the buildings slowly passing him by, some newer than others. The town was truly an old and special place. It had been one of the first Ham-Ham towns to form back a century before, perhaps longer. It had been a refuge for many hams with many different backgrounds. Origianlly, Sunflower Villa was a sanctum of hope for those hams who were to escape abusive owners, or were generally unwanted to begin with.

Sundan sighed, turning left onto another street and stepping over a puddle of water forming in a section of broken sidewalk. He noted that he should have someone fix that in the future after the raining had stopped, so that no unsuspecting ham would be injured. _Injured... That won't be a problem if no one lives through this storm._

Sundan shook his head in an attempt to rid of the thought of it. It couldn't happen.. It was impossible. Sunflower Villa had always been a beacon of light in the darkest of times. This was no different. It had always been a safe place for young hams to grow up and have families of their own. _There had been dark times in its past, far worse than a simple flood,_ Sundan thought.

There was a time during his father's time as mayor, before he was born, where there was an attack by several wild cats. Though many lives were lost to the ferocious felines, they were fended off and life continued on, for the better. The town grew stronger because of it. The hams banded together and grew closer. Surely a simple flood would do the same and only mean positives for its future?

Sundan looked to his left, dodging another puddle as he did so. He smiled as he saw the only school that was active in town. It was a slightly newer design than most of the more historic places in town. It was a two-story building with 8 classrooms, a cafeteria, a library, a gym, and, of course, restrooms. Each classroom could hold a maximum of 20 children, though that limit was rarely reached. The exterior was constructed with gray stone from the quarry that had been opened up a year before construction of the school began. The stones were held together with concrete. It wasn't as pretty or perfect as a human structure, but it was the best design that they had at the time.

In the past, before the use of heavy stones and concrete, buildings were constructed with wooden twigs and sticks that would be cleaned up and tied together in such a way that each stick and twig supported each other to keep the building standing. There were many flaws with this design, however. The structures made of this design would be fragile, with even heavy winds tearing them apart. The interior of such buildings would also be inadequate for insulation, causing inhabitants to become ill during winter times. There had been a few reported deaths due to pneumonia or even simple colds. The final problem with this design was the fact that only smaller structures could be constructed, such as houses or sheds. The larger the structure, the more fragile it would be.

Needless to say, things had to change, and the use of stone for construction looked like a step in the right direction. The school was the first building to implement this new design, and it was a huge success. Yes, this school truly did do wonders for Sunflower Villa, and Sundan was grateful for that.

Sundan turned right, down another street and eyed his home. He sneezed again and realized that due to his frustrations back at his office, he had also forgotten his jacket.

He sighed at his mistake as he turned to walk up the stairs of his porch and opened the door to walk in. "I'm home!" He yelled. He looked up at the clock and realized it was nearly eleven o'clock.

His wife peaked around the corner from the kitchen and smiled after seeing who it was. She was a short ham with all-white fur. She wore a bit of loose-fur on the back of her head in a ponytail, held together with a red ribbon.

"Welcome home, sweetie," she said as she walked into the entry hall to greet her husband. As she got closer, she saw he wore a sad smile and had a slightly-desperate look in his eyes. "What's wrong, hun?"

Sundan looked down at the carpeting on the floor and sighed, "It's nothing, Emily. Just stress from work, I guess."

Emily didn't buy it. "Sundan, I know you better than that. Something's wrong.." Sundan looked up and looked into Emily's eyes. She gasped.,"You.. you don't know how handle the floods.. do you?"

Sundan shook his head gently, "I don't.. But I guarantee you I will find a way to do it. Even if I have to stay up night and day until this situation is settled," he walked over to Emily and hugged her, "I promise you. I will die before I see this town destroyed."

Emily gently pulled away from his embrace and looked him in the eyes, "Hopefully it doesn't come to that, Sundan.. For our sons sake."

Sundan watched as his wife walked up the stairs and took a left heading to their room. He sighed heavily and walked up the stairs and took a right, straight to his sons room. He opened the door and peaked his head in and spotted the tiny figure lying dormant on the bed. He smiled, "Rodon.. Someday you will be mayor of this town, just as I am now, and my father was before me. I promise you that, even if I have to die to protect this place."

He closed the door gently and looked down and sighed softly, _If only we still had your brother.._, he thought, thinking back to a time shortly after Rodon was born.

Emily had been pregnant with another son, and at the time, Sunflower Villa was in rough shape. There wasn't much food to go around. Sundan and Emily had come to an agreement that their second son would be given up so that he may live in a better place than this. They soon regretted that decision as only months after his birth, the town had begun to do much better for itself.

They had gone to a nearby human city to meet with a ham that would insure their new-born son had a good place to live. Recently, they had found that their son was exported to a faraway country. It was devestating news for the two parents.. They missed him.

Sundan sighed as he turned around to walk toward his room, "I might as well get at least a few hours of rest. Won't do me any good later to deprive myself of sleep right now."

* * *

The next day proved to be as wet as the previous. The rain had died down a little bit, but no where near to Romania's liking. She would've liked for the rain to be a sprinkle, or a mist, or, even better, gone. But you don't always get what you want, she realized.

She had arrived at the "Sunflower Express" train station an hour ago, and awaited the arrival of the last train that would be departing before things got too messy in town.

She sat on a bench under the roof of the station as she tried to read more from her green-covered book. She closed it and looked at the name on the front, _"The History of Sunflower Villa." _She sighed and laid the book beside the suitcase she had prepared with what belongings she would need for her trip to White Rock.

White Rock was a town that was about three human miles away. Like Sunflower Villa, it had been formed by hams, though it didn't have nearly as high a population as Sunflower Villa. It was formed around the quarry whose name was shared with the town.

Originally, the quarry was opened up to provide stone for construction in Sunflower Villa, and since it was such a long distance between the two locations, a small town was built around the quarry to house the workers and their families. It had grown since then, though not by much.

It took weeks to transport all of the stone from White Rock to Sunflower Villa, so a train station was built by experts that had gotten their knowledge from books on locomotive history. It took a couple of years to master, but, eventually, the trains ran fast and well.

Romania hadn't been to White Rock before, but she knew that it would be the safest location that was nearby to wait out this flood. White Rock was high on top of a hill and was a good distance away from the Villa-Side River.

The sound of a horn startled Romania as she turned to look up the track. The train had finally arrived and was stopping to allow for boarding.

The train had a combination of passenger and cargo cars, allowing for the transport of both goods and people. Romania noticed that there were only two passenger cars, and eight cargo cars, which made sense considering that not many people traveled to White Rock. That was not the case today, however, as there were many others waiting to board the train to White Rock with the same idea as Romania. She smiled at this, _At least I'm not the only smart one._

The doors opened for the gathered hams to start boarding the train, and she waited her turn to board as well. She looked over at one of the cargo cars right behind the passenger cars and noticed a couple of employees carefully loading crates of a reddish color onto the train. _No doubt supplies for White Rock._

She came closer to the doors, soon she'd be on her way out of Sunflower Villa and waiting out the storm in a safe location. "Wait!" Romania looked in the direction of the sound of that familiar voice and sighed heavily as she saw who was running toward her. "You can't get on that train!"

"Look, Sundan.. I know how much you love this town, and I know it's been in your family for over a century.." She stopped to see if she had his attention, "But the time has come to let it go. I think you should order an evacuation of the town," Romania looked at Sundan, hoping that he would agree with her.

Sundan looked at her and shook his head, "Look, Romania..I know you mean well, but that's something I can't do. This town is my blood, and I can't leave it.."

Romania couldn't believe her ears, "Sundan, do you want to kill off everyone in this town for your own selfish ways? Because that's what you're going to do if you don't evacuate the town!"

Sundan had a look of anger in his eyes, "I won't do it. I need people to help me here to stop the floods from reaching town!"

"How do you plan on preventing it? Sand bags won't stop the floods, and you know it!" Romania looked back toward where the station employees were now unloading cargo from the train. _Sand bags..._ "Do you think that's enough to hold off the water?" She said as she pointed to the working hams.

Sundan looked to where she pointed, "It's better than nothing. I have always said that I will die with this town, and I will if I have to."

Romania sighed, "You are one stubborn ham, you know that?" She turned around and boarded the train, turning back around before she closed the doors behind her, "Well, good luck with killing everyone in this town for your own selfish ways, Sundan," She looked at him one more time before shaking her head and closing the door.

"I don't need you, Romania!"Sundan yelled at her, hoping she would hear him, "I don't!"

The train began to pull away from the station as thunder clashed above.

Sundan watched as it grew smaller and smaller in the distance and then turned around to walk away.

There was a flash of light that lit up the sky and a loud crash followed. Sundan turned around to see that a cargo car that was two cars away from the passenger cars had been struck and there was a fire spreading rapidly to the other cars.

Sundan's eyes went wide for a moment as he took in the scene, "Romania! Get off of there!" He yelled as loud as he could as he ran toward the now-stopped train. As he grew closer, he heard more clashes of thunder, and saw the fire spread to the first cargo car. He quickened his pace, running faster than he had ever done before. He was quickly closing in and then was thrown back as the first cargo car exploded into a giant ball of flame, destroying the rest of the train with it.

Sundan got back up and saw the devestation that had once been the train. His eyes widened as the world seemingly stopped around him. He had just witnessed many hams, including Romania, die in an instant. He fell to his knees and with all the strength he could muster, he screamed.

A moment later, he stood up and watched as many hams from the station, left behind due to lack of room on the train, ran past him toward the wreckage. He looked on as they reached the train and began to look for survivors. "I can't believe this.. I did this.. If I had just not been so stubborn.. perhaps they would still live.." He turned around and walked back toward town.

As he passed by the train station, he noticed on the bench was a green book. Sundan stopped for a moment, realizing whose it was. He pondered whether to pick it up and take it with him or not. He shook his head as he looked away from the book. He burst into a run as he past by it, _It'll only slow me down..._ He thought as he raced toward a much more important task.

He had an announcement to make.

* * *

The rain had picked up significantly now, and lightning kept the gloomy, dark day lit up as bright as the sun would have.

Sundan sat in the chair that Romania had been sitting in the day before. He sighed as he looked up toward the news-hams that were setting up for his special announcement.

There was no doubt in his mind, now. The town had to be evacuated. Too many lives were at stake to hope that only the town survived. This wasn't a game, it had to be done, and it had to be done quickly.

"Sir, it's time," one of the camera-hams said.

Sundan nodded and rose from his seat and walked over to where they had set everything up. He awaited his cue.

"You're on the air, sir!"

Sundan nodded and took a deep breath before looking at the camera. "Greetings, everyone. I wish I could come to you in better times, but I'm afraid that's no longer possible.." Sundan paused briefly, collecting his thoughts, "I have an announcement to make, and I hope that you all will heed my warning. Starting immediately, all residents are to evacuate the town!" He stopped once more to clear his throat of the lumps that were forming, "Head for higher ground! Don't bother with gathering all of your belongings. Only take what is absolutely necessary. Don't hesitate or you'll find yourselves washed away with the flood waters.." Sundan fought back a tear as he began to finish up, "That is all, I bid you all good luck and farewell! And please, do be careful," A tear escaped his eye, "I am glad to have had you all as citizens of this fine town.. Travel Safe!"

As Sundan finished up his brief speech, the phone rang. He walked over and picked it up, "Hello?"

A man's voice boomed across the line as if he were yelling, "Sundan! You've got to come down here!" He urged, "The waters have hit the city and are rising quickly!"

Sundan's eyes widened in response, "Where are you?"

"Walnut Avenue. Sir, please hurry!" The man said before hanging up the phone. Sundan stood there for a second to process the news. The flood waters had already reached Walnut Avenue? That meant that a good quarter of the city was already taken. Even worse, though... _Emily.. Rodon.. No!_

Sundan ran out of the door, not even bothering to say "goodbye" to the news-hams. There were much more important things to worry about... His family lived on Walnut Avenue.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I won't make a habit of this, but if you could review with your thoughts and suggestions, I'd appreciate it! This will help me better write the story. Thanks!


End file.
